Planes, trains and automobiles on rails taking hundreds of fire evacuees out of Pukatawagan

A massive wildfire crept within sight of residents in the northern Manitoba community of Pukatawagan Friday night as hundreds of people awaited evacuation by any available means.

Ralph Caribou, a co-ordinator with University College of the North helping with the evacuation, estimated the fire had reached within 200 metres west across Pukatawagan Lake as of about 9 p.m.

“If you stand just outside the nurse’s station, you can see the flames on the other side of the lake,” he said.

“The trees, they range between 50 and 100 feet high. So those flames are going just a little bit past that. And then the smoke coming out of it is really dark.”

The out-of-control fire was detected Wednesday and had grown to about 10,000 hectares by Friday evening, according to the Manitoba Wildfire Service.

Thick smoke from the fire has hindered air evacuation of the roughly 2,500 residents living in the community on Mathias Colomb Cree Nation.

WATCH | Residents wait to be airlifted as smoke fills the air:

A Canadian military transport plane was sent on Friday to airlift people to Winnipeg — about 700 kilometres to the southeast — wasn’t able to land due to poor visibility, according to a spokesperson with CFB 17 Wing in Winnipeg.

A number of other smaller planes have been able to land throughout the day, and a spokesperson for the 1 Canadian Air Division said the military would attempt to land again later Friday evening.

The bulk of evacuees are being taken out by rail. A train consisting of three coaches, four boxcars, one caboose, and five hi-rail trucks — pickups with the ability to drive on rails — will make a three-hour journey to Sherridon, Man., about 70 kilometres south, Caribou said.

The community is planning three runs of 750 people at a time, with the first load departing Friday evening and arriving at about midnight. The evacuees will then be taken by bus to either Winnipeg or Flin Flon, he said.

Caribou expects most of the remaining evacuees could be out of the community by noon on Saturday.

‘I’m very stressed out’

On Friday morning, the airport at Pukatawagan was full of people who expected to leave sometime much earlier.

“I’m very stressed out, I’m worried,” Serena Dumas, who lives in the community, told CBC News.

“The fact that the fire’s so close by, the smoke, we should have already been out there. I don’t know it’s very scary.”

Later Friday evening, Dumas reported she and her family were able to board a plane and landed safely in Winnipeg.

Caribou said it isn’t possible to get enough planes to conduct a speedy evacuation of a community like Pukatawagan.

“The number of aircraft in Manitoba is just not there,” he said.

“Fortunately, the co-ordination in the community with the fire department, the firefighters, the leadership and the EMO (Emergency Measures Organization) — I mean, everybody everybody pitched in and it seems to be working out, so far.”

Sandra Francois, from Pukatawagan, was waiting earlier Friday for her family to be added to an evacuation list.

“But if worse comes to worst we have a backup plan of our own,” she said.

That involves using a boat to get to safety somewhere farther away along Pukatawagan Lake “and wait it out,” she said, asking everyone to “keep us in your prayers.”

The Red Cross is also supporting Indigenous Services Canada with the evacuations and was able to get a number of people out Thursday night.

About 40 people who were already in The Pas and planning to return to the First Nation by train on Friday were told to remain and are being sheltered in hotels. Another 25 were sent to Thompson on a charter flight, Red Cross spokesperson Jason Small said.

Many of the people in The Pas were already there for various reasons and preparing to return by train when the evacuations went into effect, according to Small, so they just stayed in the town.

Those sent to Thompson were deemed to be highest priority, based on health concerns, he added.

As of Friday, there were 39 fires burning in Manitoba, three of which started within the last 24 hours, according to the Manitoba Wildfire Service.

Due to increased lightning and minimal precipitation, there is a high risk of wildfire across all of Manitoba, and high to extreme risks in northwestern Manitoba.

Environment Canada has issued heat warnings for much of southern, central and parts of northern Manitoba, with hot, humid conditions expected to last for the next three days.